How We Grow Greens at Star Light Gardens for Winter Production; Gardening Guidebook for Middlesex County, Connecticut

8/9/2019 How We Grow Greens at Star Light Gardens for Winter Production; Gardening Guidebook for Middlesex County, Co

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HOW WE GROW GREENS AT STAR LIGHT GARDENSFOR WINTER PRODUCTION

Ty and David ZemelskyStar Light Gardens

54 Fowler Ave, Durham, CT 06422860.463.0166e-mail: [email protected]

website: starlightgardensct.com

Having fresh greens to sell during the winter months has been a cornerstone for Star LightGardens since we started 12 years ago. Not only does it help with our cash flow during theslower times of winter, but it also forges new customer relationships with both restaurants andmarket goers for the rest of the growing season. We would like to discuss with you our choicesof crops, growing methods, soil amendment issue, planting schedules, high and low tunnelconsiderations, harvest methods and other crops to consider for production.

Why Some Plants Dont Freeze Frost resistant plants prevent water from freezing inside plant cells. Basically plants do thiseither by desiccation, so the water solution in the cell is so concentrated with other moleculesthat is it does not freeze, or by synthesizing the equivalent of antifreeze, either highconcentrations of sugars or betaines. Thanks to Dr. Martin Gent

Choice of Crops For the first 7-8 years of growing greens for winter harvest, we choose a wide range of crops inour high tunnels. Some crops faired better than others. Mizuna,arugula tatzoi and lettuce mixare fine for late summer, early fall. When the temperature drops seriously below freezing, noneof these crops had much staying power for us. They would either turn to mush (lettuce) or getyellow (tatzoi) or fail to thrive(mizuna and lettuce). Having said all this, it should be pointed outthat there are ways around these pitfalls, which well cover in more detail when we talk about

planting schedule. The greens that worked the best all winter without any hesitation for us arered russian kale, claytonia and spinach. Lets talk briefly about each one of these choices. Wecall them our Winter Warriors (for obvious reasons)

Red Russian Kale, while slower by at least a week from mizuna, just keeps on thriving regardlessof the temperature. Viable kale plants that are not even protected by row cover out in the fieldare common in the Spring. We are very happy with Johnnys kale, High Mowings kale andWild Garden Seeds.

Claytonia, sometimes is known as Minors Lettuce by some. It grows wild in the Pacific Northwest. It received its common name by miners back in the day who would eat the plants to prevent scurvy while panning for gold in areas where they couldnt get fresh vegetables. Beingcold hearty by nature, claytonia wont even think of germinating until it is cooler. With a little

bit of planning, one could let last seasons crops go to seed and then have it start all over againthe following late summer/early fall. It is not only gorgeous, but incredibly satisfying to eat. Itstexture is profoundly crunchy and has a wonderful mild taste. Just before going to seed, it puts

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out a small, delicate white flower that is also edible. Claytonia takes a while to get established inthe fall, but once it has done so, is happy to be cut several times.

Spinach is the glue (not literally) that holds everything else together. The demand for freshwinter spinach is inspiring. We are circling around several great varieties. Each of them has their

own special appearance, taste and strengths. A whole workshop could easily be devoted toexploring all the varieties. We like Samish, Tyee, Regiment and Corvair. Were also trialing afew unknowns with interesting names like Raccoon and Crocodile.

Methods of Growing Greens are grown in High and Low Tunnels. Spinach and claytonia are planted with anearthway seeder in rows that are 8 apart, so that we can easily cultivate with a dual wheeled,dual saddle-hoe. Kale is planted with the Johnnys 8 point seeder, using their second largest holechoice, and going over each area twice. Row cover is placed over everything, using hoops thatwe construct ourselves. Row cover is .9 oz per square yard. Heavier or multiple layers would beeven better, so if you have them around, doubling up can really help. Row cover is removed

during the day in order to maximize air circulation and light.Soil Amendments We have been incorporating alfalfa meal and fertrell feed-n-gro (3-2-1) into the bed after powerharrowing. An inch of leaf compost is put on over that. Besides the usual benefits of compost,this particular method makes the compost into a mulch, and helps with the emergence of weeds,

particularly chickweed. The best scenario is to get the soil prepared, wet it for ten days and thentorch all the emerging weeds and quickly plant winter crops. Its really a race. So if you give thenew seeds a head start, they can keep ahead of chick weed.

Planting Schedule For late fall harvest, you should have everything planted by October 10-14 (depending on yourlocation) Late lettuce and most other brassicas are fine if planted by early September, just dontcount on them for the long hall. Spinach planted by October 15 will be ready by the end of theyear. Now, in looking ahead to early spring there are a ton of varieties that need to be plantedlate in order to be a success later on. Carrots, chard, beets and lettuce are the most important.Pak choi comes in next. If one plants carrots too early, they will just go to seed and produce a

big fibrous root that is inedible. The best time for planting carrots would be in early to mid November. In that way, they get established in the late fall and really begin in earnest thefollowing March. Same for beets and chard. Lettuce if established in mid fall is very happy towinter over as small plants and do fine with cold weather if given protections from wind andsnow. Johnnys 5 Star Greenhouse Variety works great, as does Mortons Mystery Mix fromFrank Morton of Wild Garden Seed.

High Tunnels and/or Low Tunnels One really important thing that you can say about low tunnels is that they are inexpensive andeffective given certain parameters. Lately, Ive come to the decision that a low tunnel is

probably not as good a choice for someone over 60. Its not just the bending over to uncoverthem, but also the possibility of having to recover them if the plastic blows off in mid Winter.

Not a pretty sight! With sandbags plentifully placed on each hoop, the possibility of them

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coming loose is minimized. Still, harvesting in a high tunnel feels like a luxury compared to the possibility of having to harvest in the rain, snow and wind. For late carrot plantings, as well aschard and beets, the low tunnel cannot be beat. Proper venting in early spring should beremembered, though. Weve never had good luck with spinach in a low tunnel. Not sure why.So, rather than fight this one, we keep our spinach in the high tunnels only. Two layers of plastic

are better than one. Weve always saved old skins from our high tunnels and sliced them up in10 x 45 foot sections. Make your tunnels 40. Any longer and they are a big target for stronggust of wind. Use the extra 5 to wrap the ends. We use hoops from rainflo, prebent in a circle,every four feet.

High Tunnels: one layer of plastic works for us, with row cover on hoops to keep the aircirculating. Gothic style makes for a self shoveling roof. Just make sure that you place yourhouses in such a way that they are at least 15 apart to allow for snow piles. Plugging air draftsis important, obviously. Theres been a lot written about insulating around the parameter of eachhouse. This is a great idea, which weve never tried, largely for economic considerations.Uninsulated houses work just fine.

Harvesting At Star Light Gardens, we harvest in nets inside of laundry baskets either using a high qualityknife or in some instances the Johnnys Harvester. For the past 4 years, weve delivered ourgreens to restaurants and farm markets unwashed. This is a wonderful thing for everyone.Firstly, the minute you wash greens is the moments that they start to deteriorate. Secondly,washing at any time of year is tedious and difficult to do correctly. In the winter, it is doublydifficult because running water can be an issue. It is for us. It is also great for the consumer,

because their product stays fresher longer.

OTHER CROPS TO CONSIDER FOR HOOP HOUSES Potatoes: planted in early April and protected from cold by row cover. Get a real jump on this

popular crop. Raspberries, strawberries, black berries: there are a lot of people out there doingthis. Were considering a fall planting of strawberries. (see latest issue of Growing for MarketAugust 2011)Flowers: havent done this, but so many advantages from pest and frost protection.

Philosophically, we are very much in tune with season extension farming. Being able to providereal food that is locally grown 12 months of the year is a privilege for us. We are producinghighest quality food with a zero carbon footprint (in the growing process) and using a minimal ofenergy to deliver this food to grateful customers.

RESOURCES SEEDS FedcoBox 520/ Waterville,Maine 04903

Johnny's Selected Seeds955 Benton Avenue/Winslow, Maine 04901 / www.johnnyseeds.com 1 800 854 2580They are always friendly, great service and warranty policy.

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Seed Savers Exchange3094 North Winn Road,/ Decorah, Iowa 52101 Phone: (563) 382-5990

High Mowing /Wolcott, VT 05680

1 802 888 1800 / www.highmowingseeds.com

Wild Garden SeedPO Box 1509 / Philomath. OR 97370 interesting brassicas-worth checking out

BOOKS AND OTHER READING MATTER The Winter Harvest Manual by Eliot Coleman. A great resource book. Order from Fedco ordirectly from Eliot at Four Seasons Farm RR Box 14 Harborside, Me 04642

Caterpillar TunnelsLynn Bycznski

Growing for Market June/July 2010Hoop house update: most profitable usesLynn BycznskiGrowing for Market January 2010

High Tunnels ManualTracey Frisch and Ted Bloomgrena SARE grant with video. Manual is available free on line atuvm.edu/vtvegandberry/videos/hightunnels.htmlUSEFUL WEB SITES WWW.uvm.edu/vtvegandberryWWW.longislandhort.cornell.edu/vegpathwww.uvm.edu/~susagctr//www.cefs.ncsu.edu/IRRIGATION Dripworks 1 800 522 3747 user friendly place, helps you figure out what you need to doRain-flo Irrigation/ East Earl, PA/ 1 717 445 6976Best prices on irrigation equipment and row cover. Fast deliveryGREENHOUSE SUPPLIES Growell Greenhouses Cheshire, CT 1 203 272 8147 Mike Tripedino. Mike has walked me thru

putting up my own house. He is friendly, very interested in helping people solve greenhouse problems. He will also send crews to erect houses and re-cover themPUBLICATIONS Growing for Market/ PO Box 3747 / Lawrence, KS 66046An informative-thoughtful magazine. Often has useful articles about growing winter greens.Supportive of organic, sustainable agriculture. Also, many timely articles about market growersissues and national issues. Editor Lynn Byczynski, is extremely ready to help you find useful

books on their online store

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Documents

How We Grow Greens at Star Light Gardens for Winter Production; Gardening Guidebook for Middlesex County, Connecticut